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6 Types of Learning Experiences for Your Homeschool

April 13, 2021 by Jenna

Learning experiences are the heart of teaching. A learning experience is any interaction with a student that leads to understanding new information. That may sound broad, but God’s creation is so wonderfully complex that learning can happen anywhere and at any time. Learning experiences aren’t limited to planned lessons; children can learn through spontaneous activities, dinner table conversations, grocery store shopping, or independent playtime.

Children’s minds are basically blank slates—they are constantly gaining new information. Education should gradually build on this foundation with new information and help children develop important learning skills. Successful learning experiences encourage children’s confidence and willingness to learn. Let’s explore some effective forms of learning experiences and tips for continuing successful learning.

Get ideas for creating learning experiences!

Taking Homeschool Flexibility to the Next Level

September 27, 2018 by Sharon

When I homeschooled my two boys, we were able to take full advantage of the flexibility homeschooling offered. Creative scheduling allowed me to take into account my boys’ different personalities and adjust to the needs of our family. Our schedule didn’t always allow for the length of a typical school day. One of the boys liked to get up early in the morning and tackle his work, while the other wanted to do his work later. And neither of the boys liked having full open days with no work to do. So we adopted a schedule that suited everyone.

Six-Day Homeschool Schedule with a Twist

In the early years, daily lesson times revolved around the needs of my schedule, but as the boys got older, we didn’t have set times for any of their subjects. That way they could arrange their responsibilities within the time they had available. Most days we doubled up on at least one subject so that we could finish five days of work in four. Then our Friday would be a field trip day—whether we were going to a museum or visiting the park. We especially liked this schedule the fall because it meant we had plenty of good field trip opportunities. Any work that we weren’t able to finish through the week, we would do on Saturday. Doing that every week, we had the flexibility to take an extended break for Christmas and still finish our required school days by the end of April .

Keeping the Schedule During the Summer

During the school year, we only did subjects with 180 days of work during the school day, leaving the 90-day subjects for the summer. So, in the lower grades, we would do history and science during the summer. In the upper grades, we’d do literature. I also added in other learning activities such as math games, keyboarding, and foreign language practice as well as recreational reading time. That gave my boys a couple of hours of work each day, which kept them busy, but wasn’t overwhelming to them. With that set up, we were also able to count some of their textbook reading toward the library’s summer reading program.

In the end, our homeschool schedule was a little unusual, but it worked for us. I was able to capitalize on homeschool flexibility so that both of my boys’ learning needs were met in the best way possible.

Getting Through College Sooner

January 19, 2017 by Guest Writer

As a mom, you’re always looking towards the future, thinking about the timetable of the next twenty years. Traditionally, kids are expected to be done with high school at 18, done with college at 22, finished with the master’s degree at 23, done with the doctorate at 26. We all know that the perfect timetable is just a general guideline, not a hard-and-fast rule that can be applied to everyone. Some children take more time to complete certain grades or phases of school. For others, education can be accelerated. Have you thought about encouraging your child to finish with college in just three years? Discover some ways that you can help your young adult move through those years of higher learning more swiftly.

Advanced Placement

With Advanced Placement (AP), a high school student can take a course and receive college credit. After the course is complete, your teen takes a standardized AP exam, administered by the College Board organization, to verify that he has done college-level work. Check the AP website for more information about exams in areas such as science, math, English language and literature, foreign languages, social studies, and fine arts. Under each of those categories, you’ll find exams for specific subjects, like biology or computer science.

College-Level Examination Program

The College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) is similar to AP, except that your teen doesn’t have to take a course. This type of standardized exam gauges proficiency. Basically, if your student already excels in a particular subject, he or she doesn’t need to study that same material again at the college level. CLEP exams are available in all the subjects for which AP is available, plus several others such as accounting, marketing, and management. Visit the College Board website for more information.

Summer School

Summer school is a popular way of shortening a student’s time in college. Students stay around on campus after the school year ends to continue their education over the summer. Since the cost for summer courses is usually lower than those taken during the school year, this is a great way to save money on tuition, room, and board.

Online Courses

Many colleges and universities offer distance-learning courses. Not all courses are available in this form, of course, but your student may be able to check off several classes by completing them remotely from home. Plus, taking courses online typically allows schedule flexibility so that your student can keep working on his education while still earning money from a summer job.

Considerations of Maturity and Responsibility

Before you encourage your teenager or young adult to pursue summer school, online courses, CLEP exams, or AP classes, consider a few important factors. Maybe your son or daughter has the intellectual prowess to churn through college at a faster rate, but does she have the emotional maturity to handle the extra pressure? Does he have the mental maturity to really take in what he is learning and benefit from it, or is he becoming burned out? Sometimes, a teenager may simply be too young to handle the rigors of an accelerated schedule, and that’s okay. Young adults develop at different rates. In fact, older college students tend to take learning much more seriously than the younger ones. They often apply themselves more diligently and spend less time on other pursuits.

Colleges and universities are about learning, but there are also extracurricular activities involved. Students who accelerate through high school and arrive at college at age 15 or 16 may have limited opportunities for certain sports or other team activities because they’re simply too young, too inexperienced, or not as strong and tall as the older students. This issue is not an insurmountable roadblock to the idea of accelerated education, but it is something to consider.

Young people in America today have lots of options, and accelerating college is just one of many. For some teens or young adults, it may be wiser to take life more slowly and to mature gradually, both intellectually and emotionally. For others, moving quickly through college may be ideal—the right way to begin a life of glory to God and service to others.

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Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.

We’ve Updated Our Distance Learning Ordering Process!

April 23, 2015 by BJU Press Writer

Here’s some exciting news about Distance Learning! We’ve streamlined our online ordering process to make purchasing the Distance Learning courses you need quick and easy.

Finding a Course

It’s so easy to find the products. To order any Distance Learning product, just go to Distance Learning and select either the grade or the subject you’re looking for. (The Distance Learning link is also located on bjupresshomeschool.com in the menu at the top.)

Learning About Your Options

The layout of the product pages lets you see all the information at a glance. At the top there’s a picture of what’s included. Just below the picture are sample videos for the grade or subject you’re viewing.

Want to know more? Click the Details, Contents, or Instructor tab located just above the sample videos to get answers to questions you may have about the course.

If you’d like to order the course without books or you need it on DVDs or a Hard Drive (available for Grades 1–8), you can select those choices from the Other Distance Learning Options box to the right of the sample videos.

For some upper-level grade kits, you can choose to include a foreign language course at no extra cost.

For Grades 1–12 (in the Online or DVD format), you can substitute up to two courses (from Grade 1 or above) up or down two grade levels by clicking on Customize my kit. For example, if your child is ahead in math, you can order Grade 1 Distance Learning Online, but substitute Grade 2 Math for Grade 1 Math.

Ordering Your Selection

Once you’ve decided what you would like to order, simply click the Add to Cart button to the right of the product picture.

As part of the checkout process, you’ll need to agree to the terms. Online classes also have a student registration process that sets everything up for access to the online courses.

Check out our Distance Learning courses on bjupresshomeschool.com, and choose the ones that are just right for your kids!

Midpoint Checkup: How’s Your School Year Going?

January 23, 2018 by Guest Writer

The first half of the school year is over, and you may be doing a mental checkup of your homeschool program. How is it working for you so far? What strengths and improvements do you see in your children? Here’s what a few of your fellow homeschoolers had to say about their experience with BJU Press materials this year.

The Homeschool Scientist: Physical Science

Marci Goodwin, blogger at the Homeschool Scientist, has been using BJU Press Physical Science this year. She’s a mom who loves to get her kids actively engaged in learning. Instead of dry black-and-white text, her emphasis is visual learning and hands-on activities. Marci appreciates the fact that each chapter of Physical Science starts with a real-life issue that can be resolved using the new material in that chapter. Photos and diagrams engage the visual learner and explain the processes, both in the student text and the lab manual. All necessary materials for labs are in the lab kit, so Marci doesn’t have to hunt down supplies every week.

The Unlikely Homeschool: Language Arts

Over at The Unlikely Homeschool blog, Jamie shares her reasons for switching to the BJU Press English program from another language arts curriculum right in the middle of the school year. She felt that the other English curriculum wasn’t providing her kids with a big-picture view of language—the “why” for all the grammar facts and rules. In contrast, BJU Press language arts teaches writing and grammar side by side, showing that proper grammar is crucial to smooth, effective written communication. A writing unit supports and reinforces every new grammar skill; and homeschool students learn many different forms of writing in the process.

Not Consumed: Early Reading Skills

It’s so exciting to teach your child to read and watch as the skill develops. For Kim at NotConsumed.com, some of the best early readers come from BJU Press. The creative, interesting storylines keep her son coming back for more, eager to read each day. As the books build fluency and skills, they also help young readers develop a love for reading through exciting fiction, tales of foreign missionaries, and Bible stories as well.

Janelle Knutson: Distance Learning Video Lessons

Janelle Knutson decided to give BJU Press Distance Learning a try last year, and this year she went all out with video lessons for many of her fifth grader’s homeschool subjects. The blend of video classes, colorful textbooks, and teacher support works well for Janelle’s family. She’s able to stay involved in her daughter’s education while allowing her to work independently sometimes. Independent work is a vital skill for homeschool kids, especially those in large families where a mom or dad must teach multiple grade levels throughout the day.

Are you thinking of making a midstream switch to BJU Press textbooks or Distance Learning? Contact us so we can answer your questions and help you with the details.